Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa H!

Kara got to spend a week playing with Grandma and Grandpa H.  She had a great time being loved on and opening presents.  She's also started babbling more in the last week.  More people to listen to her, I guess!

Kara's newest things (Maybe we'll get pictures of these later...):
- Kara enjoys reading books while we're changing diapers. She also enjoys reading while making the mess in her diapers, but that's not so new (but equally funny).
- Kara likes to put balls and small toys in the Bumbo and then sit down on them. It's like she's trying to hatch something!
- Mommy and Daddy have been reading "Goodnight Moon" as Kara's last bedtime book for some time.  Daddy (and Mommy when she puts Kara to bed) has started adding "Goodnight Kara" with a kiss at the end.  Occasionally, Kara would kiss back when she felt like it.  Well, this week she has started offering kisses in the middle of the book to tell Mommy and Daddy she's done with whatever book is being read and is ready to be put to bed.  She does this for naps and bedtime.  We think she's quite hilarious.

Link to pictures

Christmas 2010!

This Christmas was certainly much, much more exciting than last Christmas. Grandma and Grandpa H. flew in from Alabama to enjoy Christmas with Kara (more on their visit in the next blog entry), and Cousin Jennifer, Cousin Travis, Uncle Archie, and Bonnie flew in from California. It was quite a full house at Grandma and Grandpa S.'s house for Christmas. Kara certainly enjoyed the presents and all the attention she got!

Unfortunately, we didn't get any snow for Christmas. Our family and friends in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Kentucky enjoyed a white Christmas, but we didn't a single flake here in Colorado. Maybe next year...

Link to pictures

Kara's December Adventures

Kara is constantly exploring her world and getting into mischief. One day, when Mommy was getting something out of the fridge, Kara grabbed an apple. Mommy was curious what Kara would do with it and let Kara gnaw on it for a while. In the end, Kara didn't really eat much of it, but she did enjoy chewing off pieces of the apple.

We have gotten almost no snow so far this winter in CO. We got a small storm last week that left about half an inch of snow on the ground. Mommy got Kara all dressed up in her snow outfit and played in the snow for a bit. Hopefully next time we'll get enough snow for Kara to make a snowman.

We're hoping this Christmas will be A LOT more fun than last Christmas.

Link to pictures

Holiday fun

Kara spent Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa S.'s house.  Grandma and Grandpa had all their Christmas decorations out. Kara particularly enjoyed playing with Grandma's Hallmark singing snowman. We showed Kara how to push the button and make them sing. She couldn't get enough of it!

Kara had her one-year check-up with her doctor the week after her birthday. Our girl is very long and lean. Basically, Kara is always on the move - walking around and climbing on everything.

Grandpa H. had a meeting in Colorado Springs last week and was able come visit us for a day.  He had a good time hanging out with Kara and enjoyed playing with her in the park. After dinner, we tried to hang out downtown to see the Parade of Lights.  Unfortunately, the parade didn't start when they were supposed to (at 6:00), and we had to leave without seeing them to get Kara home in time for bedtime.

Tonight, we went to "Dessert and a Story with Santa" at the Louisville Rec Center. Um, we're going to put that in the category of "It seemed like a good idea at the time." They had some temporary tattoos, cookies, and hot chocolate. We tried to get a tattoo on Kara's cheek, but that didn't work out too well. Kara did nibble on a couple of cookies. She also sat pretty still for Santa while he read "The Night Before Christmas". She was even fairly patient while we waited in line to sit on Santa's lap; however, the actual visit with Santa did not go well. Kara sat there for about two seconds before tears started rolling down her cheeks and she started crying. We'll have to try that again next year...

Link to pictures

Kara is 1!

Happy First Birthday, Kara! It is amazing that Kara joined our lives just one year ago. She's such a large part of our lives, we cannot possibly imagine a our world without Kara.

Kara woke up on her birthday around 7:00 (which is pretty normal for her these days), but instead of Mommy greeting her with a Good Morning song, Mommy sang Happy Birthday to her. Kara thought that was quite odd, and gave her Mom the dirtiest look she has. Once we got Kara dressed, we went out to breakfast at The Huckleberry in downtown Louisville. It was delicious! Kara got the Mickey Mouse pancake, though we're pretty sure Mommy and Daddy ate more of the pancakes than Kara!

After breakfast, the day was pretty uneventful until 3:00 when the guests arrived for the party. Grandma and Grandpa S., Great Grandma K. (or GG K. as she likes to be called), and Aunt Amy came for the party. Grandma and Grandpa H. and Great Grandma B. (or GiGi B. as she likes to be called) called in through Skype, so they could enjoy the party as well. We sang happy birthday for Kara (and got another dirty look) and then let her go on her own little cake. Surprisingly, she didn't really enjoy the cake too much. Everyone else, however, enjoyed the cake enough for her. Kara got lots of fun toys and much appreciated clothes for her birthday!

Uncle Trey wasn't able to be there for the party, but did call us on Skype the next day. It was great to see him, and he was surprised how much Kara had grown since the last time he saw her.

In other news, Kara just finished her first session of swim classes. Kara had a lot of fun at every class. She didn't actually learn how to swim, but she did learn how to blow bubbles (she likes to practice now during her baths). She slept very well on swim nights, which made Mommy and Daddy happy. :) Kara is getting pretty good at communicating these days. She's recently picked up the sign for "sleep" and likes to walk into the kitchen and sign "eat" (Mommy will usually give her a little cracker when she does that). Kara is completely off formula and now just drinks whole milk and water. She still gets one bottle just before bed, though that probably won't last much longer. It's amazing watching her grow. Like Mommy said the other day, she's not a baby anymore, she's turning into a little girl. I agree.

Link to November pictures


Link to birthday pictures

Happy Halloween!

Today was Kara's first Halloween.  She dressed up as a monkey (a very cute monkey, if we do say so ourselves).  We tried to do a little Trick-or-Treating, but the lady at the first house we went to was dressed as a witch.  Kara wasn't a big fan of the scary witch and broke down into tears.  And thus ended our first Halloween adventure.  Hopefully next year will be a bit better...

Kara's walking very well these days.  She can pretty much walk anywhere she wants to go.  She can even bend down and pick things up and keep on walking.  She also figured out another sign.  She can now sign "more" in addition to "milk", "eat", and "dog".  She's also started clapping and waving more.  She's still not talking much, but we're hoping that'll come soon.  Happy Halloween!

Link to pictures


And here are some of Daddy's pictures from his trip to Denmark:

One of the guys that went to Denmark with Daddy took some pictures too, which you can see here. As a note, Daddy didn't take these pictures or post them, so he's not responsible for the content. :)

Welcome home, Daddy!

Daddy's been gone for most of the month on a business trip to Denmark.  I had a good time and got some good pictures (which I'll share in the next blog post), but I think everyone's a little happier with Daddy home.

Kara's getting to be quite a handful.  She likes to get into everything.  She particularly likes to climb into her toy bin and then throw out all her toys.  Kara's also becoming more mobile.  She's becoming a very confident walker (see the videos) and toddles all around our townhouse.  Kara is a very strong girl.  Mommy swears she was doing chin-ups the other day.

Kara's starting to communicate a bit more.  If you ask Kara where her ears are, she'll grab her ears.  If you ask he where Mickey is, she'll grab her Mickey doll (she also knows a couple of her other dolls).  She's still not really talking much, but she's working on it.

Fall is here ... kind of

When we moved to Colorado, we were expecting crisp September weather and were prepared for snow.  However, what we've had are record highs (it's topped 90 degrees a couple of times since we've been here).  The weather has started to cool off the last couple of days, which has been nice.  We made it out to a pumpkin patch this last Saturday.  Kara seemed more interested in eating the dirt and leaves than the pumpkins, but we were able to pick an excellent pumpkin for carving.

Uncle Trey sent some pictures from his adventures in South Africa (see below Kara's pictures).  It sounds like he's having a great time and getting to observe a ton of African wildlife.

Link to pictures of Kara



Here are some pictures from Uncle Trey.

First Steps

The news of our big move has been overshadowed by Kara’s latest achievement. Kara is now a walker. On Friday, September 17th (while Daddy and Grandma S. were somewhere in Missouri on their drive across the country in a moving truck), Kara took five steps from a chair to Grandpa S. while Mommy watched. Kara’s been holding steady with taking about 5-6 steps at a time, but her confidence is growing every day. We haven't been able to get it on camera yet, but we'll keep trying.

We are now officially residents of Colorado. Grandma H. flew out from South Carolina with Mommy and Kara and helped us get settled in our little townhouse (and we do mean little!). Life will be interesting for the next six months until we can find a house. Daddy started his job at Vestas this past Monday. So far, work’s going pretty well. Lots of training, and they’re even sending him out to Denmark in October. Should be fun!

Link to pictures

Goodbye South Carolina

The move is on. With the grandparents coming and going, truck drives across the country, and airplane flights, it's going to be a busy couple of weeks! Whew! Hopefully life will settle down a bit once we get to Louisville.

This afternoon, our neighbors, Glenn and Shirley, had us over for an ice cream social. They were very kind and gave us some heavy winter clothes for Kara (including a fur coat!) and a picture of us from Christmas (when Kara was just 5 weeks old).

In Kara news, Kara has made several break-throughs. She's getting really, really close to walking. She'll take a couple of steps by herself and is getting pretty good at walking around the house holding onto someone's hands. She's also getting close to talking. She babbles quite a bit, and we think she's said a couple of words and meant it: "Da-da" and "hey". She also did her first sign a couple days of ago. She signed "milk" to Mommy when it was time for her bottle. In addition, Kara waved for the first time. She waved to Mommy and Grandma when they were leaving to go shopping one day. Kara also figured out how to open the "child-proof" cabinet locks in the kitchen. Guess we'll have to get something a little more complicated for next time. Sorry to sound like I'm bragging, but I think Kara's pretty cool.

We're moving!

Daddy got a job working for Vestas Technology R&D in Louisville, CO, so our little family is moving out West! Daddy starts work on Sept 20th, so we're working through the logistics of how to get us out there. We've rented a nice townhouse in Louisville to live in until we can sell our house. Grandma H. has come up to visit and hang out with Kara while Mommy gets the house cleaned up.

In Kara news, she is getting more and more comfortable standing everyday. She'll be standing up and will suddenly just let go and stand there. Grandma also says she's seen Kara take single steps a couple of times. She's also getting really close to talking. Kara greeted Daddy with a "Hey Daddy" when he walked in the door yesterday. It was pretty awesome, but she calls most everything Da-da. We might give her credit for the "Daddy", though.

Happy 9 Months!

It is hard to believe that Kara is 9 months old already. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital. She's grown so much, and I can't possibly imagine my life without her.

Kara is getting closer and closer to walking (Heather, I think you might owe me a Coke soon!).  She'll pull herself up and then just let go and stand there for a while.  Daddy counted her standing up for 15 seconds all by herself!  She also took one step yesterday - she was trying to move about three feet from the toy bin to the bookshelf, and instead of getting down and crawling, she just took a step.  It was pretty cool, but we're not ready to declare her a walker just yet!

Kara's still working on the talking thing.  Mommy swears Kara said "Hey" to her when she walked into the room once, but she's not consistent with it.  She also seems to call everyone "Dada".  She calls Mommy, Daddy, herself, and her toys "Dada".  We're really looking forward to getting to hear what's going on inside her head!

Kara's a very active little girl these days, so it's hard to get the whole picture of her in just still pictures.  Keep scrolling down to check out some cute videos of our little girl.

Where's Kara? There she is!

Kara's starting to enjoy playing peek-a-boo. She seems to really enjoy peeking around corners to see Mommy. It brings a huge smile to her face (and Mommy's). See the video below.

Other than that, there's not much else to report. We just wanted to share some of the cute pictures we had of Kara.

We were fortunate to stumble upon a link to some pictures from Trey's adventure in Africa. These aren't his pictures, but we're pretty sure the girl that took him is in his group. Here's a link.

Link to our pictures

Goodbye Nap #3

Kara's been a pretty good sleeper for the last few months. For the most part, she's been very good about sleeping through the night and taking about three naps during the day (though the 3rd naps always been kind of hit or miss). However, for the last week, Kara has refused to take her third nap. So far it's been working out pretty well. We haven't seen much of a change in Kara's temperament, and she's actually been going to sleep easier at bedtime (less crying, which makes everyone happy).

Kara's kind of funny with her eating. She still relies on bottles for most of her nutrition, but she's eating more and more solids. She's not a big fan of Mommy and Daddy feeding her. Instead, she really seems to like finger foods and being able to feed herself. In particular, she's a big fan of puffs (kind of like Cheerios, but they dissolve a little easier). We've been experimenting with different solid foods. Yesterday, Mommy gave Kara some couscous with feta cheese and chicken. Kara seemed to really enjoy it, and we think she might have gotten about 10% of the food into her mouth. Tonight we had ground turkey, mashed french fries, and cooked green beans. It went quite well, so that's encouraging.

On another front, Kara's second tooth is coming in.  So now she's got both of her bottom front teeth.  We're trying to get a picture of her cute little teeth, but no luck so far.

Link to pictures

Professional Pictures

On July 14th, we had our first sitting for pictures of Kara. We were lured to the studio with the promise of 40 pictures for $9.99, but we soon realized that was only for one pose (and there were so many cute poses!).  Mommy and Daddy didn't think that the photographer was going to be able to get very many pictures of Kara looking at the camera and smiling, but they were wrong.  Our little girl took some adorable pictures, and Mommy and Daddy walked out with quite a few!

Link to pictures

Visit from Justin, Heather, and Sean

Kara's had a pretty exciting couple of weeks. Grandma H. came up to visit Kara and stayed most of the week. She was amazed at how much Kara has grown in just a month!

This past weekend, Justin, Heather, and Sean came up to visit. They hadn't seen Kara since April. Kara and Sean had a lot of fun playing together. Sean particularly liked playing in Kara's enclosure, which he called "The Zoo". Kara and Sean also went to a nearby playground. Sean had fun playing on the see-saw and exploring the whole park, while Kara enjoyed the swing with Mommy. The rest of the weekend, Kara entertained herself by chasing Julie (their little dog) around the house and trying to grab her tail. I think Kara wore Julie out!

Kara is an expert crawler these days. She can get pretty much anywhere she wants to go. She's also starting to learn the value of sitting. She's figured out she can use both hands to play with toys if she's sitting. She's learning how to communicate a bit more. When she wants to be picked up, she'll starting climbing up your leg. She's also talking with more purpose these days. She'll look at you and say 'da-da-da' or 'ba-ba-ba'. We don't know what she's trying to say, but her gears are turning! It'll be a really good day when she says da-da and means it.

Link to pictures



Heather created her own slideshow with pictures from the weekend.

Hey everyone!
We spent this weekend in South Carolina with our friends, the Stevensons. Warning: this Smilebox is full of sugar, spice, and everything nice (that's what baby Kara is made of)!

Love,
Heather

Kara's Crazy Hair

Kara has always had a lot of hair. She was born with a lot of hair, and she never seems to lose any - it just keeps on growing!  She had a period where her hair seemed to always stick up no matter what Mommy and Daddy did (see the evidence here and here). But the bad hair day she had this week takes the cake. She woke up with some unruly hair that Mommy and Daddy thought looked awesome. We might need to get a hair cut for our little girl soon!

Kara is continuing to perfect her gross motor skills. She can crawl all over the place and enjoys pulling herself up and lowering herself down - just likes the practice. She's also getting to be very strong. Changing a diaper is now a two-man affair: one person to hold Kara still while the other person tries to quickly fasten the diaper. But Kara still likes to move those legs, which makes the poopy diapers especially exciting. We might have to make that a three-man job...

Stairs? Ha! Next time, give me a real challenge!

Well, Kara figured out how to climb the stairs. Thus far, Mommy and Daddy have let Kara crawl all around the first floor, but they haven't worried too much about letting her crawl around the stairs. I guess we need to start worrying about that! On Friday evening, Kara just decided to start climbing the stairs. She figured out the first stair and just kept on going. She's also starting to cruise a bit more. She's so strong! Mommy and Daddy just wish she'd sit still for a little bit!

In other news, Kara is getting her first tooth. You can kind of feel it under the surface. So far, Kara's been taking it very well, not much change in her fussiness. Hopefully she keeps this up.

Happy 4th of July!!!

Link to pictures

Seven Months and Visit from Uncle Trey

Kara is really starting to develop much more of a personality these days. She's a very energetic little girl who loves to explore. She's also fearless. She's become quite the expert at crawling and pulling herself up, and she's getting better at getting back down (though she hasn't mastered that yet).

Kara has always been quite enamored with TV. Since she was about a month old, she would sit and stare at the TV as soon as those flashing lights caught her eye. Mommy and Daddy have always been quick to turn it off, but we're letting her watch very limited amounts (10-15 minutes max per day) these days.  Mommy and Daddy will watch "Signing Time". Kara seems fairly interested, and Mommy and Daddy have learned the signs for eat, milk, water, want, shoes, baby, sleep, more, ball, bird, car, plane, Mom, Dad, flower, fish, dog, and cat. We're hoping Kara picks this up so we can start communicating with her more. Also, Mommy will let Kara watch small amounts of Sesame Street on special occasions. She's enthralled with Elmo. This is about the only time Kara will sit still. See the pictures.

Uncle Trey came up to visit this past weekend before he embarks on his African adventure. Uncle Trey is going to train to be an African safari guide in South Africa for the next year. Here's a link to the program called Bushwise. We hope he has a great time!

Link to pictures

Back to the Daily Grind

After our exciting May (trips to Alabama and Colorado to visit grandparents plus a couple visits from people), June has been a little slower. Kara continues to build on her crawling skills. She can now consistently crawl with her stomach off the ground, much to the dismay of Mommy. She's practicing pulling up on things. She particularly likes to pull up on unstable things (her carrier, bouncy seat, or boxes). So far she's pretty good at getting up but not so great at getting down. We're hoping she figures that out soon.

Kara's starting to talk a little more these days. She'll do some ba-ba's or du-du's every once in a while. Mommy is very excited to get to talk to her little girl (and so is Daddy)!

Link to pictures

Let's Go West!

On May 27th, we headed out West to visit family out in Colorado.  Traveling to Colorado from South Carolina with a baby is quite an adventure, but Kara did great!  She was pretty grumpy most of the day, but was relatively calm during the flight (though it would have been great if she'd slept on the plane, but she didn't).

The first day in Colorado, we just chilled at Grandma and Grandpa's house, letting Kara decompress.  The next day we had friends from Colorado come over to the house to meet Kara.  We got to see a lot of people (though we didn't get to see everyone).  I think everyone had a good time with Kara, and Kara had a lot of fun playing the crowd.

On Sunday, we went to Arvada to visit Great Grandma (G.G.) K. and Aunt Amy.  And for Memorial day, Dad and Grandpa went to Boulder for the Bolder Boulder.  Grandpa ran, lazy Dad just watched.  In the afternoon, we had some more people over to visit Kara.  Overall, we had a great time visiting people!

While we were in Colorado, Kara continued to develop her crawling skills.  She refined her army crawl and then moved on to crawling with her torso off the ground.  She did that for about a day before she decided that she needed to start pulling herself up (see the pictures).  Grandma and Grandpa's house has some steps in the family room, which Kara pulled herself up on.  She started with pulling herself up to her knees but quickly moved on to pulling herself to her feet.  Crazy girl!

Link to pictures

6-Month Birthday!

Kara is now officially a crawler. She started off in early May with dragging herself around the room. It was rough, but she could get around. She quickly moved on to an army crawl and would occasionally balance herself on all fours. She doesn't want to take the time to master any skills, she just keeps on learning new things!

Kara recently had her 6-month check-up with the Dr. She said that Kara looked great (the Dr. was very impressed with how well Kara would sit).  Kara measured 26 1/2 inches long (78th percentile) and weighed in at 15 lbs, 10 oz (43rd percentile), so she's long and lean.  We don't know where she gets that from...

Several people came up to visit Kara in May.  Around May 9th, Patrick and Akila stopped by.  It was great to see them and catch up.  They were amazed at how much Kara had grown since the last time they visited.

A couple of weeks later, Grandma and Grandpa H. came up to see the little girl. They had a great time visiting and couldn't believe how well she could crawl (she was doing her fairly coordinated army crawl at the time).

Link to pictures

The Mobile Baby

Kara is such a joy these days!  She greets us with a smile in the morning and it stays on her face for much of the day.  She's even giving us a few more chuckles and squeals.  Kara is becoming more aware of the world around her every day.  She reaches for things she's interested in (pretty much everything), and loves it when Mommy points out and names many of the items around the house.

A couple pretty major things seem to be happening in front of our eyes - Kara is becoming much more vocal and MOBILE (we're happy and more than a little nervous about the latter).  She "ahhhs" and "ohhhhs" mostly, with a few "ghassss", "heys", and "huhhs" thrown in for fun.  She'll make these noises for minutes at a time, which is quite a departure from our quiet-except-for-crying baby of yore.

And our little girl is *so* close to crawling (we think).  Amazingly, she pretty much goes wherever she wants now, without crawling or walking.  She'll lunge, roll...over and over, and drag herself with her arms across the room.  Kara will hardly even stay still for a book or to eat!

Another fairly new development is a strong aversion to naps and bedtime.  She's still sleeping but not without a fight and screaming.  She just likes playing with Mommy and Daddy way too much! (ha ha ha)  Guess there could be worse things in life!

Link to pictures

Road Trip!

We took Kara to visit the grandparents (and Uncle Trey and Great Grandma B.) down in Alabama this past weekend, which was her first trip outside the Greenville area. She had some rough spots on the drive down there and the drive back (5 hours in a car is a long time in baby world), but overall, the trip was a success.  She slept through night like a champ and enjoyed playing with all the people (and dogs) during the days.

On Saturday, Heather, Justin, and Sean came down from Auburn to meet Kara.  Sean thought Kara was very interesting.  Kara worked the crowd by talking the whole time and impressing everyone with her rolling over skills.

Grandma, Grandpa, and Great Grandma had a great time playing with Kara, feeding Kara, and reading with Kara during the weekend.  Thanks again for having us!

5 months old already? Wait, what happened here?

Kara is growing up so fast!  The first three months or so (with the short naps during the day and several wake-ups during the night) seemed to be in slow motion, but since then, time has been in fast forward.  We can't figure out where the last month went!  I always thought it was silly when parents said "They grow up so fast", but it's true!

Kara smiles much more these days, though she makes you work for them.  It seems like most of our days are spent trying to make her smile or laugh (dancing, singing, making funny faces).  She enjoys playing Pat-A-Cake with Mommy, watching Daddy do Itsy Bitsy Spider, reading Quick As A Cricket, or playing the piano with Mommy.

Kara still hasn't figured out how to crawl but she's desperately trying to.  She's getting really close, but still hasn't gotten the coordination down.  She has, however, figured out how to roll over from her back to her stomach.  Which is good, except that she does it during naps and then can't figure out how to roll from her stomach to her back.  Hopefully that'll be the next thing she figures out.

The big news these days is that Kara is sleeping through the night.  She's slept through the night every night (except a couple times) since March 30th.  Life is much better when everybody's getting sleep during the night.

Link to pictures

The Return of Uncle Trey

Uncle Trey came up to visit Kara last week.  Trey hadn't seen Kara since she was about 4 weeks old, so it had been awhile.  The week was filled with shoulder rides, singing and piano playing.  Trey ended up staying a couple days longer than originally planned because he was having so much fun with Kara.

Kara is really starting to enjoy playing the piano.  Okay, maybe 'play the piano' is a little strong, but she does hit the keys and seems to have fun doing it.  Uncle Trey and Mommy played Heart and Souls a few times, which Kara really enjoyed.  Mommy is slowing building to the list of solids Kara has tried.  She's now tasted rice cereal, bananas, carrots, and peas.  The latest, peas, were not a favorite of Kara's.  She ate most of them, but she made a face with every bite.  We got some video, which I posted below the pictures. I also posted a video of Kara blowing raspberries at Mommy.

In other news, Greenville is on the short list for Google's "Google Fiber" project, which will build a 1Gbps Fiber Optics network in a city. Check out the website and Vote for Greenville. Here is some more information on Greenville's bid.

Link to pictures

Easter and Carrots

Kara is continuing to explore new solid foods. She seems to enjoy bananas and carrots. She is getting better at eating solids every day. We think she might have even swallowed some last time. :)

This past Sunday was Easter. We went over to the neighbor's house for Easter dinner. Kara wore her pretty little dress that Ms. Heather sent to her (see the pictures).  She was the most popular person there!  People were lining up to hold and play with her, and Mommy and Daddy got several babysitting offers.

She is such a pretty little girl.  See the pictures

4-months old and Trying Solid Foods

Kara had her 4-month checkup visit to the doctor last week. She weighed in at 13 pounds, 8 oz (45th percentile) and measured 24 3/4 inches long (68th percentile). In addition to getting weighed a measured, Kara had her next set vaccination shots. She was not too happy about that.

Now that Kara's four months old, the doctor said she can start trying out solid foods. Mommy and Kara tried to eat some rice cereal mixed with baby formula this week. It did not go well. Kara spit out pretty much everything and ended up getting really mad at Mommy. They tried again with bananas a couple of days later, and that seemed to work better. We think Kara might have actually swallowed some of the bananas. Our little girl is growing up so fast!

Kara is enjoying her new found thumb these days. As soon as you put her down in her crib, she rolls over onto her left side and starts sucking on her left thumb. Kara's better at soothing herself and has been sleeping better recently, which is just fine with Mommy and Daddy.